Ah the Holiday Season. Cool weather, warm fireplaces and time to decorate your home for the holidays! We all know the tried and true holiday plants (poinsettias, cyclamen and mistletoe just to name a few), but with a wide range of plants out there, lets look at some great alternatives that can be used year-round and dressed up or down depending on your style needs.

Agalonema ‘Osaka’ (top right)Commonly referred to as a ‘Chinese Evergreen’, we chose this specific variety thanks to its beautiful creamy-white and green variegation. A beautiful tropical plant that thrives in low to medium light and easy to care for, dressing it up in a fun holiday container or a modern white or concrete planter can add the perfect touch to your home.

‘Blue Ellwoodii’ Cypress (bottom left)Who wouldn’t want this cute green-blue conifer plant for the holidays? Dress it up in a minimalist concrete pot and you have a beautiful piece of the outdoors to enjoy inside during the cold months. These guys enjoy medium to bright light and require damp (but not wet!) soil. What’s not to love?

Anthurium ‘Flamingo Flower’ (centre)A true tropical plant, Anthuriums love a bight, indirectly lit area. Great year round, they come in a variety of stunning colours such as red, coral and bright pink. With beautiful heart shaped leaves and blooms, they leave you with the impression of getting away from all the fluffy, wet white stuff on the ground and would be perfect as a hostess or teacher’s gift.

Selaginella Fern ‘Spikemoss Jori’ (bottom right)Easy care? Check. Colour changing foliage? Check. Not quite the same as the common “frosty fern” selaginella, ‘Jori’ is great as it offers beautiful green foliage that gets lighter and lighter as it cools. Perfect for the winter months when it starts to get a little chilly, these plants will start to lighten and turn white at the tips, giving it a cute snow kissed appearance.

Pteris ‘Silver Lace’ Fern (top left)Delicate silver-green leaves are the standard for this fern. Great for a hostess gift or to keep for yourself, Pteris are good for low to medium light levels meaning they’re easy to place through out the home or office. Dress it up in a fancy pot and your décor options are endless!

With the holidays around the corner it’s easy to forget to care for your green friends in all the hustle and bustle. If you’re going away for a few days or longer it might be a good idea to water your plants before you leave, or consider doing a pebble tray. Instructions for these are abundant on the internet and a great option for plants need humidity as well.

Happy Holidays from the Jensen’s Team, and we look forward to seeing everyone at Canada Blooms in the new year!

Canada Blooms is now accepting applications from Interior Designers, Landscape Designers and Architects to create Balcony Gardens for 2018.

If you have ever considered creating a garden at Canada Blooms and specialize in small space design, then now is the time to let us know. The festival is creating balcony display units that will challenge the designers to create something spectacular, memorable and inspirational in a real life, limited space, setting (10 ft long x 6 ft deep x 8 ft high), while also keeping in mind this year’s theme “Let’s Go To The Movies”.

Canada Blooms will provide:
10′ x 6′ x 8′ display unit prebuilt with raw plywood, open
front and back, and to be finished by designer on floor, sides (inside and out) and ceiling.

$650 subsidy

1 duplex electrical outlet

There is limited space available to showcase your talent, creativity, craftsmanship and professionalism at Canada Blooms – March 9-18, 2018. If you are interested in submitting and application please contact Canada Blooms Horticultural Director David Turnbull at davidturnbull@canadablooms.com or 416-447-8655 x 7730 for more details. Application deadline November 30th.

Canada Blooms and Proven Winners are proud to announce the Canada Blooms Plants of the Year for 2018. This year we will be showcase three amazing plants — an annual, a perennial and a shrub, and purple is the colour to look for in the spring.

These three plants selected were chosen from hundreds that were tested in the University of Guelph Trial Gardens program for hardiness suitable for growing in Ontario’s climate.

The Annual – Petunia‘Supertunia® Bordeaux™’ has vigorous slightly mounded growth habits that function as both fillers and spillers in containers. They are also excellent landscape plants, best suited to be placed near the front of beds. The Bordeaux has medium to large sized flowers, attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.

The Perennial – Heuchera ‘Primo Black Pearl’ has stunning black foliage with ruffled edges, rosy purple undersides, and white flowers that bloom in mid-summer. This salt-tolerant heuchera grows well in both shade and sun. It is also deer resistant and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.

The Shrub – Weigela ‘Spilled Wine‘ shares the fabulous deep purple foliage and bright pink flowers of the classic Wine & Roses® weigela but with a shorter growth habit. This beautiful plant grows wider than tall, making it the perfect choice for edging beds or walkways and for incorporating under windows in your landscape design. Like all weigela, it is deer resistant and very easy to care for.

“We’re thrilled that Canada Blooms has graciously agreed to feature our three 2018 National Plants of the Year at their spring festival,” said Marshall Dirks, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Proven Winners. “In just our second year of building this effort, we’ve been pleased that growers and retailers have embraced the National Plant of the Year program, making it easier for gardeners to experience these wonderful varieties. In fact, Supertunia® Bordeaux™, our 2018 Annual of the Year™, was developed by a Canadian, Ken Lander of Sunrise Greenhouses in Pugwash, Nova Scotia.”

Spring time is always an exciting time of year, full of possibilities and potential: What flowers to plant in the garden? In what arrangement? And what colours? And, what theme should one choose? The latter is particularly fun, in keeping with the Canada Blooms 2018 theme of “Let’s Go To The Movies”!

So, for this festival, Floral Designer Justine De Bouvier, of Fleurishes by JuJu, thought to shake things up a bit and give Hollywood, and the visitors of the Canada Blooms Show, something to remember! Being a floral artist, Justine naturally selected Salvador Dalí’s, “Un Chien Andalou”, as her guiding design theme for this show! When there are no limits to the imagination, there will be no limits to the possibilities of floral design!

In designing her unexpected and stunning floral arrangements, Justine adheres to the following skeleton of principles, irrespective of whether it is for the garden or a container arrangement:

• Ensure the colours follow a harmonious colour scheme, such as, designing with a complementary colour scheme – that is, colours located directly opposite each other on the colour spectrum, as blue and yellow are

• Play with space by varying the height of the flowers used in the garden or container arrangements – to move and carry the eye around the design

• Incorporate or use unexpected design elements or vessels

• Step back and look at the garden or container arrangement as a whole and, add or subtract anything that affects the overall harmonious flow of the arrangement.

Beyond these basic principles, anything is possible! Drop in to one of Justine’s demos at the show to learn how to apply these principles and elevate your botanical designs to a whole new level. Alternately, stop by our booth (number H349) to see, firsthand, our principles of botanical design. Hope to see you there!

~ Photo: A Floral Arrangement inspired by Dalí Atomicus, by Justine De Bouvier, of Fleurishes by JuJu

Canada Blooms is now accepting applications from Landscape Designers and Architects to build at Canada Blooms.
If you have ever considered building a garden feature at Canada Blooms, now is the time to let us know. Canada Blooms is looking for Landscape Designers, Builders and Architects who can create spectacular, memorable and inspirational gardens. Build a garden at Canada Blooms and create an impression that will last a lifetime. The theme will be announced soon.

There is limited space available to showcase your talent, creativity, craftsmanship and professionalism at Canada Blooms – March 9-18, 2018. If you are interested in submitting an application visit our website or contact Director of Horticulture, David Turnbull for more details. Notice of intent to build should be received by April 7, with renderings submitted May 26th, 2017.

Note: submissions are judged by an independent committee and successful applicants will be notified by July 2, 2017.

What is Canada Blooms?

Canada Blooms is an annual world-class festival that connects people to the joys and benefits of nature through experiences with gardens and flowers, by promoting, educating, inspiring and celebrating all aspects of horticulture....

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Canada Blooms
7856 Fifth Line South
Milton, ON L9T 2X8
416.447.8655

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